7) Ain’t no party like a boarding party.

As all the lights got turned on nearly all at once I could see the three ships behind us well enough to see the angry red "Reiver" floating in the air above their ships.

Ones that were significantly smaller than the Corsair ships. Almost more like oversized rowboats with a single mast each.

But they were stuffed to the gills with hostiles who let out an angry roar as we lit up the Last Chance and took off with a jerk. Pulling steadily ahead of them.

At least until we began to pull too far ahead of them, then we slowed to more of a drift with some momentum until they began to catch up again. Ahead of us, the Corsairs finished their turns. Three of them gathered together while the other two circled around to get lined up.

Kev suddenly brightened up and practically danced over to our Corsair prisoner before tapping it on the forehead. "I accept you into my crew!"

[ Encounter ended. You have been judged to be 22 percent responsible for the victory. ]

[ You have received a 10 percent bonus as an Einharjar for winning a combat encounter ]

[ You are now 98 percent of the way to second level ]

"That was all we needed?"

Kev grinned at me and gave me a thumbs up. "She was the last one left, and it was easier than killing her!"

Well, I guess even that option still solved it. But what the Hell? Two percent shot of a level just before another fight? Just round it up system. I'm either about to get that last two percent or I'm going to be dead anyways. Let me go out at second level.

As no bird or flying lizard were swooping in, either the Reivers lacked shapeshifter Vials, at least didn't have any for fliers, or we were going too fast for them to commit to trying to catch up with us.

Which meant I would have a chance for a ranged shot before any fight. “Spirit weapon.”

The old rifle appeared in blue and white in my hands. The gun sight levering up and the number five appearing beside it as the bolt action loaded a round in the chamber.

Looking down the sight of the rifle confirmed there wasn't any sort of magic magnification effect, but did help me to focus in on some of the larger targets behind me. A blue version of the four armed red guy. A big shaggy troll looking woman. A larger gray scaled lizard guy with almost plate armor sized scales in spots.

The last one seemed to be looking right back at me and jerked his head up like he was daring me to take the shot. Guess his scales were the only big ones on him.

In all fairness to my occasional times at a gun range. At this distance, I could only just hit someone. But it would only be due to how firmly they were packed in on board their ship rather them my aim.

Luckily the opposite was true as the first rounds of their gunshots began to hit the back of our ship.

There were a couple of panicked shouts, but Kev was the only one to shout out words. "Hey, they're shooting at us! That wasn't in the plan!"

As the ship began to veer off at an angle to the Reiver's coming up behind us and the Corsairs moving to cut us off, I looked up to see Ryan crouched down between the instrument panel and the captain's chair, while Sandra was flat on the deck.

“Sandra, get your crown out. It may help us to not get hit!”

She peeked up and confessed in a shrill tone that “I don’t want to make myself a target!”

I rolled my eyes. "These are the ones who want us alive, the clearer they can see you the less they are going to want you dead."

She reluctantly crawled around to get behind the other swivel chair and half stood up. "Stay alive my followers, so you can protect, me!"

I guess that worked. Besides with her being that lit up, it made it that much harder to spot the rest of us on the deck of the ship in the dark.

A few moments later, two of the Reivers continued on straight to go after the closest Corsair. While the other Reivers turned to keep going after us along with the other two Corsairs.

All three ships had some A-holes screaming at people to row harder, like they weren't already trying.

Jerks.

Some motion behind me showed me the Makoans skeleton wearing one of Stan's Hawaiian shirts as a full body robe. It was dancing around with two glow sticks in its hands.

In the cabin below I could see Erin doing the same dance. She added in a few waves and mouthed something at me I couldn't hear.

I gave her a confused look and waved one hand at her. Sort of half of a "What?" sign.

In return, I got something like. “Distraction...don’t care if ...shot” the dancing made her signs a little hard to read.

Right. Got it. I still don't know, and I no longer cared. Right now we were getting clear of the Corsairs, Reivers, and anything else that might be bobbing in the water or wafting through the air.

"Ryan, don't get too far away. If we get clear it might end the scene and my gun and the crown will go away!"

The ship slowed down so I supposed he heard me. Behind us, the Reiver and Corsair ships had begun exchanging gunshots with each other. But with even more arrows and spears. Farther back one Corsair was being boarded by the second Reiver ship as the two Corsairs that had gone out wide circled in on the mess.

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With full sails. I hadn't felt a whisper of a wind since we got here, so how the heck did they have a wind to push them? Something I was going to have to ask our new crew member when I got chance I guess.

But right now, what I wasn't seeing was a chance to cut out one of the ships with some losses that seven people could take on their own. But I guess with the numbers on those ships that had never been in the cards.

Unless I made an opportunity with choas. "Kev! Where is the flare gun?"

Our captain pointed somewhere ahead of him, saw my glare, and grabbed the yellow plastic case from the navigation deck. I set it on the deck, popped it open, and loaded another big shell.

Then I steadied my arms on the rails and took aim at the sail of the Corsair ship that was under attack.

Kev leaned up behind me. “What’s the plan?”

I grunted. "Shoot the sail. Let the flare land on the deck. Hope their too busy fighting to stop it from starting a fire. Capture the ship after it's abandoned but before it sinks. Get a chart. Hope for some loot."

I fired. Kev nodded. “Good plan. Hope it works.”

It almost didn't. Turns out flare guns that are meant to fire straight up into the sky aren't made to be all that accurate.

The flare hit the sail harder than I thought it would as well but then it did drop down out of sight. It also lit up the fight with a hellish red glow, revealing a battle to the death between seemingly equally sized groups.

The crew from the other Corsair seemed to hesitate as their ship pulled up on the opposite side of their fellow ship. Clearly reluctant to jump into the red lit mosh pit the deck of the ship had become.

Our now freed Corsair offered his opinion. "You might be better off hitting the Reiver ship, it's all open on the free side, and they sell of anyone who stays back from a fight."

I looked around and saw Sue half keeping an eye on the now freed lizard person and half smirking at me as she once again coiled up the same damned rope. "What? She's crew now."

I sighed. "Ryan. Swing us around like we're swinging by to get a close look. Then pull up close if they're only a handful of people on the Reiver ship."

Then I headed up to the front of the ship to line up a shot as we approached.

As I got up there. I was inspired to look over the side to confirm the ship's anchor was on the left side. Closing in on the battle, some of the people on the far Corsair ship pointed our way and a few shots came our way. Right toward the back deck at what I was certain there was a green glowstick waving and dancing skeleton.

I was going to have to listen to Erin brag about that later on wasn’t I?

Up ahead I see a few little green guys who had been tying off roped grapples onto the Corsair ship and were now heading up ladders. "Bring us in close Ryan, get the prow over the top of their ship, and drop the anchor on them."

The reptilian who I now guessed was captain Greyscale turned at that and ignored a scrawny green skinned guy's attempts to drive a thin blade into his back as he looked back and forth at our closing ships and his eye went wide.

Four shots, three shots, two shots.

Two bullets hit, the second and last one knocked him back into a crowd. Then both of our ships collided and I went over the rails and landed hard into the Reiver ship. Right alongside the chain going down in the new hole in their deck.

Damn, I didn't think it would go through. As the Last Chance cruised by behind me, the chain went taunt and jerked the Reiver ship hard enough that if I had been trying to get back to my feet, It would have been knocked off my feet like the five guys on the Reiver ship who had been closing in on me.

I heard Erin shout out. "Save Bram, fly my pretty." As the floridly clad skeleton took a flying leap down to the Reiver ship. Arms spread wide as the two glow stick dropped free revealing his wickedly clawed hands.

Then it smashed to pieces on the Reiver's deck.

I was guessing at least one gunshot had weakened it a bit. In any case, at least two of the Reivers had been distracted by the scattering bones. Leaving me with three more.

I got up as far as my one foot and a knee and took aim with both hands at the nearer Reiver. A snaggle toothed green skinned dwarf holding a hook shaped blade. That was when I noticed I didn't have a left shoulder anymore. Instead, my arm was sort of dangling down a bit.

Oh, dislocated. I guess that's what that feels like without any pain associated with it. I could sort of feel my muscles pulling it back up and into place, along with a sort of suction.

At this point, however, mean green was close enough that I could just sort of hold the gun out in one hand and still hit him. He knew it as he stepped up to run at me across the rowing benches before I could shoot.

One shot left. The bullet sort of blew through him and sent him flying back between the benches. Leaving me with a solid black silhouette of a guy and a scrawny little green female.

Which got engulfed by the flame thrower like fire coming out of Ryan's hands which he held out from the steering deck as he screamed. It looked so metal, like an album cover if they still did those.

It also set the ship on fire a bit. But that was okay since dragging the ship by a chain on an anchor on one side of our ship was sort of slowly tilting the ship over into the water toward the Last Chance. With me still on it.

Maybe I should have gone with water breathing after all. Nah, the boomstick rules.

Crawling back I headed for the remaining two Reivers who were looking nervously at Ryan above them, I had to pause as the even further blacked silhouette guy began to twist around in place. Only to relax as his equally black bones began to emerge from the wet pile of black burned meat.

What a lovely smell I thought as my shoulder made a wet popping sound. My shoulder was now... relocated? Well fixed up anyways.

Another gout of flame engulfed the last two. A furry little guy and another green dwarf. The furry guy was still squirming as the animated black bones slurked over to finish him off.

[Ship captured. Collect your bounty.]

Kev hang dropped down onto the tilting ship and looked at me in concern. "You okay, you came down pretty hard."

I waved him off. "We got the ship, there shouldn't be anyone left on board. Let's get the chest and figure out how to get free before this one sinks and drags us down with it."

Below the deck was one long lower deck area with a well-polished wooded chest with gleaming brass fitting. I grabbed a hold of one end while Kev grabbed the other. It seemed light for its weight, but it was still a struggle to get it up the ladder. Especially as there was now a good foot of water on one side of the hold.

From down below I could see that the anchor had been pulled up and was now hooked onto the bottom of the hole it had made in the deck.

Heading back up I could see another Corsair ship closing up behind us. The drag from the soon to be wrecked ship was slowing up down dramatically. I rushed over and began beating the stock of my gun against the deck holding the anchor in place. "I need an axe or something, we need to get the anchor free!"

Rob shouted "Heads up!' Before a medieval looking duplicate of a double headed wood axe from Stan's wall of dangerous toys dropped down on the deck next to me. "Thanks Rob!"

I chopped wood. The ship tilted more and began to shake side to side. The Corsair closed in on us.

The pull on the anchor tore the partially chopped up section of the deck free in a burst of splinters. The anchor got pulled along the deck, hooked onto the front railing, and then tore through a good size section of it.

Now freed, the Reiver ship slammed down from its tilt and shook me hard enough to slap my ass to the deck. By the time I was on my feet. The Last chance was gone well past me and the rope Sue had tossed onto the Reiver ship had been dragged free.

By the light of a tiara, six sets of eyes looked back at me. The lizard gal was looking back at the other ships. I waved at them. "Keep going, I got an out."

Looking back I had a minute or two left before the Corsair caught up, more if they were smart and just rowed on by. By the looks of it, I wasn't going anywhere.

Plenty of time to loot. The furry guy and the three green people had some pouches with a few interesting feeling things in them. And while I wasn't going to feel around in what left of the shadowy person. There was a dull solid black long knife near the remains that I snagged.

As the Corsair began to row by about fifty feet away I reached into my pocket to triumphantly pull out a Vial.

Then I saw that it was the Puma one and dug out the other one with the raven instead.

Pulling the cork out, I swallowed down my plan B.